Melancholic Discovery
by MariaSakura93
Summary: Marinette is depressed and Tikki will have nothing of it. For a secretive kwami who insists on Ladybug and Chat Noir to keep their identities secret, she's pretty loud about who her miraculous holder is. Especially with weird noises coming from the roof.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm not good enough Tikki. I'll never be good enough as Marinette. Only Ladybug is ever good enough," vented the frustrated girl to her kwami.

"Oh, no Marinette, don't say things like that," tried to comfort the ladybug god. "Of course, you're good enough. If you weren't, you wouldn't have been chosen, I wouldn't have gotten a new friend and Chat wouldn't have the perfect partner."

"No, I'm not. Adrien doesn't give me a second glance and when he even gives me the time of day, I screw up. I can't even get a full sentence out without stuttering. He probably thinks I'm crazy or worse, that I hate him," whined the bluenette, letting herself fall face first on the pillows on her chaise.

"Then he's not good enough for you," stated the floating entity very seriously.

"But he's perfect," groaned the hero to her pillows.

"No he isn't. You are out of his league my chosen. It's his loss if he doesn't realise what's in front of him. Now-"

"Technically behind him," interrupted the miraculous holder, moving to lay on her back.

"You can either keep pining after him or you move on and find someone else. Someone who appreciates you for you, not Ladybug and a fantasy. If he makes you this upset then I don't approve of him," finished Tikki, pretending that Marinette hadn't spoken.

"give it a few more days?" asked the young designer.

"Fine," sighed the little goddess, floating to rub her head against Marinette's cheek in her version of a hug. "But you have to speak to him and he has until next Friday to smarten up and see you or else I'll have to give him Chat Noir's luck."

"And how do I speak to him without making a fool of myself?' questioned the teen.

"You pretend he's any other guy and not your crush," smiled the kwami, happy that her charge was happy and no longer a possible victim for Hawkmoth.

"And just how do I go about pretending that Adrien is not Adrien?" demanded the designer.

"You pretend he's Chat," replied the ladybug entity with a smirk.

"Alright, I'll try," sighed the girl before getting up, putting some Jagged Stone on and sitting in front of her sewing machine to start a new outfit.

Marinette didn't hear the crash from her roof balcony because she was in the fashion zone, as Alya called it. Tikki on the other hand, just smirked more broadly. It almost looked predatory.

'Plagg is going to love this situation,' thought the red and black kwami, slowly floating towards the plate of cookies that Marinette always keeps on her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

The outside handle of the skylight slipped from a gloved hand. The few millimeters that let light through to the outside closed with a muffled bang. The figure jumped back in surprise as two ears started to swivel on alert. Another crash was heard on the roof making the shadow jump again. A baton was pulled from a belt, elongated and transported its owner away from a little bakery and straight to the most comforting place Paris for them.

The Eiffel tower was magnificent as always, with the soft light emanating from its structure, but the figure fast approaching and vaulting to the top didn't notice. As the shadow got closer to the light, a leather clad blond could be observed deep in thought. His ears were flat on his head and his tail swished from side to side, the only outward signs of his distress. Once at the top, the feline hero dropped heavily on the metal. He faced the city below him, his glowing green eyes watching, but not really seeing, his inner torment taking up almost all of his brain power to sort.

'Ladybug is Marinette. Marinette is Ladybug,' the words kept repeating themselves in his head like a broken record. 'How is it possible? Marinette is so sweet, but she seems so uncomfortable around me as Adrien. Then again, she makes a great class president and when I'm Chat I know she's humoring me when she's acting the fangirl.'

The model's thoughts turned to his memories of Marinette, his classmate, analysing them. He could remember the righteous anger in her eyes when she thought he had put the gum on her bench. He saw her looking shocked and shy that same afternoon after the bell when he told her the truth about that morning and he gave her his umbrella since she didn't have one and it had started to rain during their last class. He remembers the look of shock on her cute face when said umbrella closed on her and he chuckled. He sees her as the blushing and stuttering girl she's been around him since that day. Examining his memories, he notices that she only ever ects like that with him, unless they're playing Mecha Strike. He then sees her as the caring babysitter that she is with Manon. He sees her again at the bowler hat competition, proud and confident in her design and proof that it was hers. Then as the class president. Sure of herself and taking charge to lead the class to safety and protecting them, but still being kind and thoughtful. Listening to suggestions and trying to compromise so her classmates were content with the resolution. He remembers her the one day she hadn't stuttered or become a lovely shade of pink. The day her Uncle came to participate in the cooking competition and how worried she'd been after she'd confronted Chloe. All the times she stood up to Chloe since he'd come to the school and he'd been too scared to lose his childhood (first) friend to intervene. The one memory that stuck though, the one that really confirmed for him the truth of what he'd heard earlier. The time that Nathanael had been akumatized and become Evillustrator. She had been calm even if she was facing an akuma. She had come up with a plan to take the pen and had almost succeeded. She even reminded him that his baton could get them out of their glass box when the ship was sinking.

The hero's eyes widened slightly as it seemed that it was finally dawning on him. That he finally realised that what he'd heard wasn't a bad joke.

"Oh god. Marinette is Ladybug," whispered Chat Noir shocked.

Thirty seconds later, the cat hero jumped to his feet and left the Eiffel tower, destination Agreste Mansion to plan.


End file.
